Brazil
Cargill in BrazilCargill has been in Brazil for 43 years and has its roots in the agribusiness industry. Cargill is also a major player in the Brazilian food industry and is active in the risk management business. Based in São Paulo, the company is present in 18 Brazilian states. Cargill has plants and branch offices in nearly 180 cities in the country. Currently the company employs about 24,500 people in its different Business Units.
AgriculturalGrain and Oilseed Supply Chain
Cargill´s Grain & Oilseed Supply Chain Business Unit buys trades, exports and processes grain and oilseeds. It is a major soybean exporter in Brazil, and the second largest processor. Cargill has an integrated structure of over 130 grain origination offices located in the country’s main agricultural areas, soybean crushing plants and several port terminals. GOSC products from soybean crush are soybean meal, crude degummed soybean oil, refined and bleached soybean oil and bottled refined soybean oil with the brands Liza and Veleiro.
Sugar and ethanolOne of the main exporters of Brazilian sugar, Cargill ships this commodity worldwide through its joint ventures TEAG – Terminal de Exportação de Açúcar do Guarujá and the T-33 – Terminal de Açucar Ensacado, both in the state of São Paulo. In this business, Cargill also exports alcohol through the TEAS – Terminal Exportador de Álcool de Santos (state of São Paulo) in which the company has an equity stake.
In 2006 Cargill acquired a 63 percent stake in Central Energética Vale do Sapucaí Ltda. (Cevasa), an ethanol mill located in Patrocínio Paulista, in the state of São Paulo. In that same year, Cargill also acquired a 43.8 percent stake in Usina Itapagipe Açúcar e Álcool Ltda., a sugar and ethanol mill in the state of Minas Gerais.
CottonIn 2005, Cargill Brazil resumed trading operations through its Cotton Business Unit, to keep pace with this growing market in Brazil. The company has origination, trading, storage, and processing operations. In addition to facilities in all cotton producing and consuming regions in other parts of the world, Cargill has an origination office in Rondonópolis, state of Mato Grosso.
FoodsConsumer products
Cargill in Brazil produces, trades and distributes consumer products nationwide. Its line of consumer products includes such leading brands such as Liza cooking oils, Mazola corn oil, Purilev canola oil, Veleiro soybean oil, Olívia and Maria blended cooking oils, Gallo and La Española olive oils, Gourmet and Liza mayonnaise, and Liza salad dressing. The Cargill Foods Business Unit markets the above products, in addition to vegetable oils and fats for food manufacturers and the food-service industry.
Cargill is also active in the meat business. Based in Itajaí, state of Santa Catarina, the Meats Brazil Business Unit has eight plants distributed in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, Paraná, and Santa Catarina. It markets poultry, pork, and heat-processed products. Domestically, Cargill operates through the Seara brand and offers products such as breaded food, ready meals, hamburger patties, mortadella, pastry and snacks, ready sandwiches, sausages, feijoada ingredients, smoked meats, ham products, franks, salty snacks, salami, kibbes, cured meats, whole birds, poultry parts or deboned poultry. It also markets products in the party and light special categories. Internationally, the company is a leader in the exportation of chicken cut parts.
Food ingredientsIn the food industry, Cargill operates through three Business Units: Starches and Sweeteners, Cocoa & Chocolate, and Flavor Systems.
These Business Units provide solutions to help their customers produce the finest sweets, pastry, biscuits, ice cream, candies, beverages, and confections. The company also offers products for application in the baking industry and for deep-frying.
• Cocoa & Chocolate – To address customer demand and market opportunities, in 2007 Cargill opened a plant in Porto Ferreira, state of São Paulo, to produce chocolates and chocolate compounds, a product the company introduced together with this plant. The largest cocoa bean processor in Latin America, Cargill has a plant in Ilhéus, state of Bahia, and originating offices in that region. Among the ingredients the company markets to the food industry, there are cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, chocolate, and chocolate compounds, which are currently supplied to the food service industry in individual bars.
• Starches and Sweeteners – This Business Unit produces and sells corn-based and manioc-based starches and sweeteners, such as glucose syrup and maltodextrin, which have applications in the food and manufacturing industries. This Business Unit’s products include ingredients for candies and confections, beverages, dairy products, and even supplies for the pharmaceutical, textile, chemical, paper, and other industries. It also offers a line of acidulants for the manufacturing industry. Starches and Sweeteners has plants in Cargill’s Industrial Complex in Uberlândia (Minas Gerais), Miguel do Iguaçu (Paraná), and Porto Ferreira (São Paulo).
• Flavor Systems – This Business Unit produces flavors (liquids, powders, and emulsions) and prepared ingredients for yogurt, sauces, fillings, and frostings, including preparations using whole fruit. It has plants in Cosmópolis and São José do Rio Pardo, both in the state of São Paulo.
• Toshoku – This Business Unit has an office in the city of São Paulo and in 2007 it established ties with other Business Units, particularly in the food ingredients area, to find opportunities for new raw materials and products that can meet customer demands in Japan.
Financial Solutions
Cargill’s Trade and Structured Finance (TSF) Business Unit develops financial solutions for the company, its suppliers and customers. TSF collaborates with the Treasury division to plan Cargill’s global strategy and manages the various funding activities.
Cargill also owns Banco Cargill S.A., a Brazilian bank certified for commercial and investment banking, and which implements some of the solutions TSF develops.
Risk ManagementTo protect its customers and ensure the sustainability of its business, Cargill uses the Risk Management area to find solutions that ensure the financial security of grain and cocoa farmers. This area was the first to introduce a price-setting tool – Garantia Plus – which prevents wild price fluctuations in the commodities markets from affecting farmers’ profitability.
InvestmentsCargill manages alternative investments through Carval Investors. Currently it manages four lines of businesses: corporate credit, past-due and unpaid credit portfolios, real-estate holdings, and special opportunities. This area is active in 37 countries of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. In Brazil, it has an office in São Paulo.
ManufacturingIndustrial Starches
The Industrial Starches Business Unit offers a wide variety of regular and modified starches and fecula, dextrin, and adhesives for various applications. It supplies both products and technical services to the corrugated paper, paper, cardboard, carton, tube, and small-tubes segments. Plants in Uberlândia (Minas Gerais) and São Miguel do Iguaçú (Paraná) produce solutions for this industry.
Industrial Oils and LubricantsThis Business Unit serves non-food industries with vegetable oils and lubricants through its Mairinque (São Paulo) plant. Under the Innovatti brand, the company supplies raw materials for the lubricant, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, paint, chemical products, and other industries. This Business Unit also has a second plant in Brazil, in Cargill’s Uberlândia Industrial Complex (Minas Gerais).
The main products supplied by this Business Unit are vegetable methyl ester, vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils, bio-polyol, synthetic ester, and vegetable fat acids.
Steel Products and their raw materialsThe company sells steel products and its respective raw materials through its Cargill Ferrous International subsidiary. In Brazil, Cargill trades with the industry’s most important companies.
CitizenshipFundação Cargill
Established in 1973, Fundação Cargill has also been actively helping educational efforts in some Brazilian communities by investing in two well-structured social programs: Programa de Apoio ao Ensino Fundamental Fura-Bolo (Fura-Bolo Elementary Education Support Program) and “de grão em grão” (little by little, in a rough translation).
The Fura-Bolo program encourages reading habits of children at public primary schools by introducing them to books on Brazilian folklore. The "de grão em grão" program, on the other hand, disseminates notions of family agriculture and food safety to students at public primary schools and their families. This happens both in the classroom as well as in vegetable gardens planted at the schools.
Volunteering employees are involved in both Fundação Cargill programs.
Social projectsCargill Meats Brazil is one of the Business Units that has also social projects supported by volunteer staff, in addition to specific initiatives at different communities where the plant has operations. Today, its key projects are as follows:
• Professional Training: This program is intended to provide education and professional training to teens aged 15 to 18 from low-income families in the city of Itajaí (Santa Catarina), where the Businees Unit has a plant.
• Children’s Pastoral: This program trains community leaders to fight infant mortality, malnutrition, and social inequality.
• Traffic Education: This initiative teaches children how to behave in traffic.
• Physical Impairment Drama: This is a drama group established to encourage and involve individuals with physical impairment.
• Community Citizenship Committee: This project was designed to improve living conditions in the community of Rio da Luz, in Jaraguá do Sul (Santa Catarina), where one of the Cargill Meats Brazil plants is based.
• Basic Computing: This initiative provides IT training to low-income teens living in the district of Imaruí, in the city of Itajaí (Santa Catarina).
• Ipê: This program teaches and encourages poultry raising, plant nursery, and vegetable garden activities in the city of Hortolândia (São Paulo).
• Recycling at Schools: This initiative teaches the importance of garbage selection and recycling in health and environmental preservation in the city of Sidrolândia (Mato Grosso do Sul).
My Home: The Cargill Meats Brazil Business Unit is developing the Minha Casa (My Home) project, to help employees buy a home. Homes will be built about 900m from the Itapiranga (Santa Catarina) plant. To achieve this goal, the company has sought funding alongside partners, suppliers, and government, which will reduce the price of the home for the employees.
ContactCargill Agrícola S.A
Av. Morumbi, 8234 – Brooklin
04703-002 – São Paulo / SP – Brasil
Tel: 55-11-50993311
For more information:
http://www.relatorioanualcargill.com.br/2007/